Mugher Cement Enterprise, Sinoma International sign accord
Ethiopia’s Mugher Cement Enterprise (MCE) and the Chinese Sinoma International Company yesterday signed an agreement for the construction of the third production line that would be carried out at a cost of US$129.97m.
During the signing ceremony held here at Sheraton Addis, MCE Manager, Tefera Abebe said though the enterprise has been exerting efforts to meet the country’s demand for cement, the ever-increasing construction activities necessitated the immediate implementation of the expansion project.
Tefera said the third line expansion project would help ease shortage of cement which is the major problem the country’s construction sector is currently faced with.
He said the project has the capacity to produce 900,000t of clinker and 1.4Mt of cement annually.
He said preparations have been finalized to install the clinker production machinery at Mugher, while the cement mill would be installed on 20ha of land at Tatek locality 10km west of Addis Ababa.
He said the enterprise has been exerting relentless efforts to realize the implementation of the expansion project in the past years.
The contract agreement indicated the expansion project would commence in mid-December 2006 and would be completed after 21 months.
The manager called for governmental organizations and other stakeholders to exert utmost efforts for the success of the project.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Seyoum Mesfin, who is also board chairman of Mugher Cement Enterprise, said the expansion project is pivotal since Mugher, the country’s major cement factory, would be able to meet the ever growing demand for cement which resulted from the booming of the construction sector.
Seyoum said the demand for cement has called for the participation of private investors in the sector and added that the government would provide the necessary assistance for the sector.
He said the project would help ease the problem within the coming 21 months.
Vice Chairman of Sinoma International Company, Eng. Wu Shoufu said the signing of the agreement following the Sino-African Cooperation Summit shows the growing friendship between China and all African countries.
Published under Cement News
